Mother, Daughter Reunited Following Abduction

October 16, 1987

HOUSTON (AP) _ A couple who welcomed a stranger into their home, and then found their infant daughter and the stranger missing two days later, have brought the child home from Mexico after nearly two weeks of separation.

″I feel happy, thanks to God, because I have my daughter,″ a smiling Marina Reyes told reporters Thursday at Houston’s Intercontinental Airport. ″There are so many parents with missing children who have not found them.″

Wednesday night was the first time Mrs. Reyes had seen her baby, Liliana, since the girl was discovered missing from her crib Oct. 3.

Mrs. Reyes and Houston police Sgt. Jose Selvera flew to Mexico City early Wednesday expecting to identify the baby and quickly return with her. Mexican officials, however, delayed the return by a day to conduct their own investigation.

Mother and daughter were reunited in the federal police station in Puebla, about 125 miles southeast of Mexico City, where the baby was being kept by a Mexican family, said Stu Hoyt, assistant legal attache at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

On Oct. 1, Mrs. Reyes and her husband, Sergio, welcomed a woman to their home after a non-Spanish-speaking neighbor brought her to their house. When Mrs. Reyes woke up about 4 a.m. on Oct. 3, she discovered the woman and her daughter were gone.

Police described the kidnapper, in her early 20s, as mentally unstable.

″We believe in God, and I know God is with me because we tried to help the lady. I don’t feel anything bad for her. She is sick and needs help,″ Mrs. Reyes said.

Mexican police said the woman was still at large. They said she arrived in Puebla on Sunday with the child and claimed it was her own, but her parents took the child from her. When federal authorities began an investigation, she apparently left Puebla.

No charges have been filed in Houston against the woman, officials said.